(Reuters) – Russia believes that the United States will at some point remove all restrictions on the use of weapons supplied to Ukraine, the RIA news agency cited Russian ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov as saying on Friday.
“The current administration behaves like a person who extends one hand and holds a dagger behind their back with another one,” Antonov said, describing Washginton’s recent comments about Kyiv not being allowed to use U.S. weapons for strikes deep into Russian territory as “goading”.
“…They are, essentially, laying ground (for a decision) to simply remove all the existing restrictions at a certain point, without much thought.”
The United States has provided Ukraine with more than $50 billion worth of military aid since 2022, but has limited the use of its weapons to Ukrainian soil and counterfire, defensive crossborder operations.
Antonov said serious dialogue with the U.S. would only become possible if it ends its “hostile” policy towards Russia, which includes the support of Ukraine and the implementation of sanctions against Moscow.
Antonov said a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared unlikely during the United Nations General Assembly session next month.
He also said Moscow had no plans to interfere in the U.S. presidential elections.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Michael Perry)